Realization in Dreams
by FangZeronos
Summary: She knew she shouldn't rely on dreams, but this one was right. Artemis sets out to find Wally with or without the help of the friends that betrayed her.


Artemis sighed as she pulled her boots off after a long day of celebrating with her friends in Metropolis at Bibbo's Diner. It was two weeks since her journey seeing Wally's spirit, something she was still feeling the after-effects of. Changing into her tattered old sweatpants and Wally's jersey, one of the only things she still had of him, she laid down and let herself drift off, content with how the day went, happy her friends were happy.

_She opened her eyes, hearing laughter and the smell of food cooking, sitting up and stretching as she looked around and felt the warmth in the bed beside her. "Hmm..?" she mumbled, getting up and running her hands through her hair, untangling it and letting it drape behind her as she padded barefoot out of the bedroom and toward the kitchen._

"_No, don't throw your cereal, you silly goose!" she heard, pausing as she heard the laugh again. "Willow, no." Artemis inched closer, leaning against the doorframe and seeing her daughter in her highchair, bits of cereal on the ground being sucked up by Brucely._

"_Yesh!" Willow giggled, looking over as she caught sight of her mother. "Mama!"_

_Artemis smiled softly, looking over at the stove. "Wally?"_

"_Sorry, babe. I tried to keep her quiet," Wally said with a smile, walking over and kissing his wife. "You got in pretty late last night with Violet and I was trying to keep her from waking you up."_

_Artemis smiled as she kissed Wally in return. "It's alright. The smells woke me up."_

_After having breakfast and seeing Violet off to the Watchtower for a day of training and missions, Wally sat with Artemis on the couch, cartoons playing on the television for Willow who was smacking toys into the ground as she watched. She curled up against him, fingers teasing the edge of a book as she felt Wally's hand run through her hair._

"_You know Zatanna lied, right?" Wally asked, looking down at Artemis._

"_What?" Artemis asked, looking up at Wally. "When? I haven't talked to Zee in a few weeks."_

"_Valentine's Day, Artemis," Wally said. It was always a sign to her when he used her name instead of calling her "Babe" that something was wrong. "When she cast her spell to send you into Limbo? It was backwards magic, right? What did she say?"_

"Siht si tsuj a wohs fo thgil dna dnuos," _Artemis said. "Why?"_

"_Her magic only works when she says the spells backward, right? What is it forwards?" Wally asked._

_She fell silent, closing her eyes and trying to think. After a minute, her eyes widened softly. "This is just a show of light and sound," Artemis whispered. "What…"_

"_All Zatanna did was blind you with some lights and white noise. What you saw wasn't even real. You didn't see me, Artemis. None of what you experienced was real," Wally said._

"_Why would she lie? What the hell….?!" Artemis asked, getting up and walking around the couch. "No, Wally. She wouldn't do that."_

"_She did," Wally said. "You know it's true, baby. You felt it, didn't you? Something tickling the back of your mind. A little tingle that you know shouldn't have been there, but you didn't think about it because you were getting what you wanted after kissing Will?"_

"_M'gann," Artemis said. "Why would she do that?"_

"_Because she wanted to help you get closure, but you know it wasn't going to be that easy," Wally said. "All of this is a dream right now, baby. You need to talk to M'gann and Zatanna, find out the truth."  
_

_Artemis nodded softly, watching Wally get up and walk over to her. She wrapped her arms around him, burying her face into his chest. "I don't want to lose you again," she whispered._

"_You won't. You never will. You just need to find me. I'm not dead, baby. I don't know where I am, but I know I'm not dead. You just have to find me," Wally said, kissing Artemis' hair softly. "I love you, baby."_

"_I love you," Artemis whispered, leaning up and kissing Wally softly. "I'll find you. I know I will."_

_She watched the dream fade, Wally's smiling being the last thing she saw as her eyes started opening._

Artemis sat up the next morning, wiping her eyes. She sighed as she got dressed, grabbing her phone and heading downstairs.

"Coffee?" Will asked, seeing the look on Artemis' face.

"No," Artemis said. "I'll be back. I have something to take care of." She kissed Lian's cheek and made her niece giggle, taking off for the door before she called Zatanna. "You and M'gann meet me in the park in Star City. _Now, Zatanna Zatara._" She hung up and took off at a jog, making her way for the park.

Twenty minutes later, Zatanna and M'gann walked into the park and spotted Artemis, making their way over. "Artemis?" Zatanna asked.

Artemis got up and slugged both of her friends in the chest, making them stumble back. "How dare you!" she snapped. "You tricked me!"

M'gann crossed her right arm over herself and gripped her left arm, biting her lip. "How did you find out?" she asked softly, tears welling up in her eyes.

"Artemis, you have to understand—"

"No, Zatanna. I asked you to _help me _and you, you tricked me?" Artemis asked, tears welling up in her eyes. "You're supposed to be my friends! My sisters!"

Zatanna bit her lip, looking down. "Artemis, I told you, I couldn't bring his spirit back, but that everything you saw was your imagination. All I did was…basically make a lightshow. The rest of it was M'gann. I swear, I am so sorry…" She wrapped her arms around herself, swallowing the lump in her throat. "We deserve whatever you give us right now. You trusted us and we betrayed that, and we can't make up for it…"

"Artemis, all I did was create a small psychic playground. Whatever you filled it with, whatever you saw and experienced, that was all you," M'gann said. "I'm sorry…I'm so sorry about all of this…" She moved past Artemis and sat on the bench, burying her face in her hands as she shook with silent sobs.

Artemis looked away, her hands clenching. "I should cut the both of you out of my life right now," she said. "Forget you exist, pretend you're both dead to me and live my life without the two people I _thought_ were my sisters when Jade ditched me." She sighed and looked down, her hands unfurling. "You say you can't make up for it, Zatanna? You can."

"How?" Zatanna asked, looking at Artemis and wiping her eyes softly.

"Help me find him," Artemis said. "He isn't dead. He told me." Seeing the confusion on her friends faces, she explained about the dream and how she put things together from Valentine's Day. "You help me find him, and I will _consider _forgiving you both."

Zatanna nodded. "Alright. Where do we start?" she asked.

Over the next weeks, the three women put their heads together and followed any lead they could get their hands on, finally realizing the three Infinity Inc. under Luthor's—and sadly, Brion's—control were using Speedster technology to make them faster. Under the cover of night in late April, the three infiltrated LexCorp R&D, Artemis downloading everything to a flash drive that she could.

M'gann let her eyes glow, feeling around psychically before gasping. "This way," she said, flying down the hall and wrenching a door open with her powers. "Artemis."

Artemis ran down the hall and saw the pod in the middle of the room, seeing it buzzing with energy and glowing with electricity, firing an arrow and severing the cords keeping it going. She pried the door to the pod open, a figure falling out and crashing to the ground. She knelt down and turned him over, tears welling up in her eyes. "Wally…"

Wally's eyes opened slowly, blinking as he looked up at the lights, Artemis' face slowly coming into view. "Mm…Artemis…" He groaned as Artemis wrapped her arms around him, and he slowly put his arm around her, shaking as he buried his face against her neck. "I thought I'd never see you again…"

Artemis sniffled, tightening her hands in what remained of Wally's suit, burned and tattered from almost two years of torture. "How did you end up here?"

"I don't…I don't know. All I remember was the MFD electrocuting me, and looking through my hand," Wally said. "I woke up here, probes attached everywhere and being forced to run and power something." He looked over Artemis' shoulder and saw M'gann and Zatanna, smiling softly. "Hi, ladies."

"Wally," M'gann said, kneeling down and putting her hand on his cheek, smiling softly as tears fell down her cheeks. She cautiously put her hand on Artemis' back, biting her lip softly.

"_You're forgiven if that's what you're worried about. We found him, and…I guess I can't be mad about it anymore. Don't ever do that again, though. Or next time, M'gann, it's an arrow in your backs." _Artemis said, closing her eyes.

"_Fair enough." _M'gann said, wiping her eyes. "Let's get you to the Watchtower, Wally. You need to be checked out after so long."

"And coming back from the dead isn't easy," Wally said with a small smile. He stood up slowly, wobbling to try and get his legs back for the first time in years.

Zatanna smiled softly, holding her hands out. "Torpsnart su ot eht ateZ dna revoc ruo skcart!" she chanted, her eyes glowing as the four of them were transported to the Zeta, the lab looking like it did before any of them were even there, just without a captive Speedster.

After being released from the hospital and free to go home, Wally sank down on the edge of the bed beside Artemis, taking her hand and smiling softly. "Tell me everything," he said.

"Everything? Oh, lord. You want to be here for a while," Artemis said, intertwining her fingers with Wally's. "Where do you want me to start?"

"Um…probably after telling my parents I was dead," Wally said.

Artemis smiled softly and nodded, launching into the last two years, starting with moving in with Will to take care of Lian while he worked, and Jade was absent. With Wally back at her side, the nightmares and bad dreams would finally start to go away, leaving her to be happy. The way she found her best friend and boyfriend wasn't the nicest, and she knew Zatanna and M'gann deserved more then she gave them, but right now…she figured their punishment could wait. After all, she was going to have to get married someday…


End file.
